Saturday, June 15, 2013

Tess Gerritsen is a damn good
thriller writer. I remember reading The Surgeon when it jumped onto the
bestseller lists, and being blown away by the deep characterization, the
intricate plotting, and most of all the eponymous serial killer villain.

A few years later I meekly
approached Tess, asking for a blurb for Rusty Nail, and she generously responded. That lead to a friendly online correspondence where we occasionally commented on each other's blogs. Eventually I got to meet
her in person at a writing conference, and was every bit as impressed by her in
person as I was with her writing and her Internet persona. She's a really nice person.

I asked Tess for another favor when Shaken came out in 2010; a celebrity review. Again she was gracious
enough to help me out.

But Tess never asked for my help
for anything. And she didn't ask for my help this time, even though what she's
doing now is more noble than any of my pursuits.

This is from her recent press
release:

Tess Gerritsen – the mind behind
the bestselling crime novel series-turned-hit-TV-drama Rizzoli & Isles— has declared War
on Alzheimer’swith a new online fundraising campaign in
memory of her father, who died of the disease.

Gerritsen believes that this war can
be won, and that our fiercest warriors are our scientists, so proceeds will go
directly to The Scripps Research Institute
(TSRI) to support its Alzheimer’s research. Each $5 donation enters the
donor’s name in a prize raffle (i.e. a $25 donation is equivalent to five
entries).

Two grand prize winners will
get to name one character each in the next Rizzoli & Isles novel,
coming out in 2014! (The named character’s role in the story is up to the
discretion of the author). Three runners-up will win prize
packages that include a signed copy of Gerritsen’s most recent hardcover, Last to Die,
a “Rizzoli & Isles” baseball cap, tee shirt and surgical scrub top, and
handcuff earnings. Gerritsen has also pledged to match every dollar raised, up
to $25,000.

Joe sez: My wife and I just donated $1000. Now I'm asking readers
of my blog to donate as well.

Every dollar helps, and Tess's
contest is a good one with some fun prizes. But I'll throw in a bit of incentive as well.

If you donate $100 or more, you
can write a guest blog for A Newbie's Guide to Publishing.

This blog gets anywhere from 4k
to 30k hits per day. I will also tweet your blog post to my 11,000 Twitter
followers.

Just forward me your donation
email with the subject GUEST BLOG FOR TESS and we'll set up a date to run your
blog post.

I know $100 is a lot of money.
But it's tax deductible, for a great cause, and might help your name and
books reach a lot of new people. I say "might" because there are no
guarantees. Some guest bloggers, using this platform in conjunction with a
marketing push, have sold in big numbers. Some have sold very few. My
blog, like any other kind of promotion, is a crapshoot. And remember it is geared toward
writers, not readers.

That said, many people seem to
believe my blog has promotional value, and I'm happy to give them space for a
modest donation to a great cause. If $100 is too much, get in touch with your
writing buddy, each of you put in $50, and interview each other on my blog and
split the cost and the promo offer. (just forward me the $100 donation email and tell
me it's from two people)

This offer is only good through
July 23. And your blog has to be writing or publishing related, as this is writing
and publishing blog. I reserve the right to put an addendum on any guest blog,
adding my comments.

If this blog has ever been
helpful to you, this is your chance to pay it forward and help a worthy cause.
Even a $5 donation will help reach Tess's goal.

And if you hate my guts, for $100 you can use my own platform against me and tell the world what a tool I am.